Description:

International diplomacy is a ubiquitous feature of insurgent politics because it is intrinsically linked to how groups pursue third-party political and military support. However, although war-time diplomacy is central to insurgent politics, scholars still cannot explain the substantial and puzzling variation in insurgent diplomatic strategies over time. This talk examines when and why rebel groups focus their diplomatic attention on and solicit support from certain international actors over others. This framework is applied to the international diplomacy of the Iraqi Kurdish liberation movement from 1958 to 1990.

Morgan Kaplan is a Buffett Institue Postdoctoral Fellow who researches the international politics of rebellion with a focus on how insurgent groups use international diplomacy to solicit third-party support. He received his MA and PhD is Political Science at the University of Chicago and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research also examines intra-insurgent politics, international security, and state formation. The empirical focus of his work is on the Middle East, with a specialization in Kurdish and Palestinian politics.

The Buffett Institute Faculty & Fellows Colloquium brings together an interdisciplinary audience to build awareness of global research on campus. This series promotes dialogue on scholarship and develops a deeper sense of community among Buffett Institute affiliates. Each meeting lasts one hour; lunch is provided. Due to space constraints, we will not admit attendees once the space reaches capacity.